Die Fabeln des Äsopus/Fables d'Esope/Favole di Esopo/Fabulae Aesopi I

Abstract

"Here is a real prize! Two volumes each contain 45 Aesopic fables presented in the same format: a full-page (about 5" x 7½") illustration on more substantive paper and then a page each for German, French, Italian, and Latin. The publisher is not acknowledged, but "Vienna" and "1806" are. Bodemann #233.1 places apparently this same book at Joseph Frister as publisher in Vienna in 1818. No artist is acknowledged in this book. Bodemann lists von Perger as the artist for the 1818 edition. The plates are signed by the engravers, among them Pöltzel, Gerstner, Blaschke, Benedicti, and Belling. Metzner describes the engravings of the 1818 version this way: "naiv gezeichnete Fabelfiguren (Menschen und Tiere), volkstümliche Trachten und Requisiten sowie alpine Landschaftskulissen passen die Fabelszenen alpenländischer Kultur an." I find them strong, particularly these: DS (17); WC (25); "Eagle and Crow" (41); "Dog and Ass" (53); "Old Dog" (81); "Ass and Horse" (133); "Stag at the Pool" (137); "Wolf and Hunter" (165); and "Stag and Horse" (177). The frontispiece features Aesop and the mirror of truth in the midst of many animals. See 1807 for the second volume."